Scott
Brothers Duo Records are proud to present
a new recording of the magnificent organ of Victoria Hall Hanley,
alongside a wonderful Steinway concert grand piano.THE CD IS NOW AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE HERE

THE GRAND ORGAN OF VICTORIA HALL HANLEY

The then City
Organist Dr. Sidney Welé gave weekly concerts and the instrument
attracted famous organists including Lmare, Hollins, Gigout and Dupré.

Major restoration and rebuilding work was carried out in 1988 by Hill,
Norman & Beard at a cost of over £200,000 and the tonal scheme
was restored to the 1922 specification. In 1998 David Wells Organ Builders
Ltd. cleaned and re-commissioned the organ after a major renovation and
extension of Victoria Hall.

The
organ now has 72 stops with over 4,400 pipes (Full specification below)
and continues to be cared for by David Wells Organ Builders Ltd. and the
Victoria Hall in conjunction with the Victoria Hall Organ Consultant Michael
Rhodes.

The
organ of Victoria Hall, Hanley was originally built for the Yorkshire Royal
Jubilee Exhibition of 1887. The exhibition was held in Saltaire and a new
organ of 34 speaking stops over 4 manuals and pedals was built by Peter
Conacher of Huddersfield which was housed in a 3000 seat temporary Concert
Hall. The organ was advertised for sale and was bought by George Meakin,
a Hanley pottery businessman and owner of the firm J & G Meakin, who
presented it to Hanleys Town Council as a gift for their new Victoria
Hall.

Victoria Hall, Hanley opened on 4th October 1888 and the opening organ recital
was given on 5th October 1888 by A. L. Peace, organist of Glasgow Cathedral.
A second recital was given the day after by J. Kendrick Pyne, organist of
Manchester Cathedral.

In 1922 the organ was considerably rebuilt and enlarged by the famous organ
builder, Henry Willis. The organ was enlarged to 62 stops with the addition
of several solo stops, a division of Trombas on the Great Organ, a powerful
pedal Ophicleide and a new solo Tuba on 18 wind pressure. Further
work was undertaken by J.H. Cowin of Liverpool (a former employee of Henry
Willis) in the early 1960s which included renovations and tonal changes
to suit the fashion of the times.

Welcome
to Duos for Piano & Organ II a collection of music for the unusual
but versatile combination of piano and organ. Since our last recording
of repertoire for this combination we have discovered and performed
many new works in a wide variety of venues, with many types of instruments
at various distances from each other  sometimes without the benefit
of seeing each other! Victoria Hall, Hanley is one of our favourites
and its Steinway Concert Grand piano and magnificent 1888/1922 Conacher/Willis
organ provided us with the opportunity to record a wide variety of music.
We have included transcriptions of orchestral and chamber works, less
well known original music from USA and UK by Clifford Demarest and Leicester's
own Benjamin Burrows, Timepiece by Tom, which was premièred at
Hanley in 2013 and finally we couldn't resist the opportunity to give
each instrument the chance to shine in thrilling concertos by Addinsell
and Yon. We loved recording and performing this music and hope that
you enjoy listening. Jonathan & Tom

NOTES
ABOUT THE MUSIC

1.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) arr. J. Scott
Overture to The Magic Flute K.620
The Magic Flute was written during the last and most productive year
of Mozarts life.
It is set in an unspecified time and place and its mix of comedy, symbolism
and mysterious Egyptian-style setting and rituals ensured its success
with audiences. It remains the most frequently performed German opera
in the world today.
The Overture was written just two days before the operas premiere
and contains no actual themes from the music which follows. It is a
real curtain-raiser designed to be an independent concert piece which
gives the audience a sense of anticipation of what is to follow, and
Jonathans transcription gives an opportunity to demonstrate the
varied sounds and colours available for the combination of piano and
organ.

2. Felix Borowski (1872-1956) arr. R. Spaulding
Stoughton
Adoration
Felix Borowski was born in the English Lake District village of Burton-in-Kendal
to a Polish father and English mother. He studied music in London and
Cologne before teaching the violin and piano in Aberdeen for a short
time. In 1896 he was invited by the American showman Florenz Ziegfeld
to move to USA where he became director of music of the Chicago Musical
College, as well as the programme note annotator for the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra. His works, which include several large scale sonatas and
orchestral symphonies, are rarely heard today but his 1898 work Adoration
for violin and piano is still part of the standard repertoire. Its combination
of romantic harmony and prayer-like melody leading to a quiet ecstatic
close, are perfectly transcribed for piano and organ in this 1936 version
by the American organist and composer Roy Spaulding Stoughton (1884-1953).

3. Richard Addinsell (1904-77)
Warsaw Concerto
Warsaw Concerto was written for the 1941 motion picture 'Dangerous Moonlight'
which tells the story of a Polish pianist and composer who is working
on his new Warsaw Concerto and defends his country during
World War II by becoming a fighter pilot. The aim for British composer
Richard Addinsell was to produce a 'Concerto' to be used in the film
similar in style to that of Rachmaninoff and it was so successful that
it completely eclipsed the film. It is probably the earliest example
of a work which made the leap from being film music to becoming a standard
work on the concert platform. Our recording keeps the virtuosic piano
solo part while the organ takes the orchestral part, exploring the rich
variety of orchestral sonority of the organ of Victoria Hall.

4. Benjamin
Burrows (1891-1966)
Variations on an Original Theme for Piano and Organ
The remarkable but little known Leicester born composer Benjamin Burrows
was a virtuoso pianist, organist, and a teacher of great distinction,
both privately and at The University of Leicester. He was also a keen
inventor with great skill as a precision engineer and horologist, which
led to many useful inventions during his service in both World Wars.
He published his own compositions and exam preparation papers on a home-made
printing press, and taught pupils, usually by post, to the highest qualifications.
He lived in Leicester his entire life and at the last count before his
death he had coached 24 D Mus, 56 B Mus and 104 FRCO students. Variations
on an Original theme was completed in May 1948 and is dedicated to Leicester
pianist Elsie Everett. The unmistakably 'English' theme by Burrows is
followed by six variations, a fugal episode and a coda, which is a recapitulation
of the material from variation 6. The variations pay homage to several
styles including a Vaughan-Williams style English Pastoral in Variation
3, a hint of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in Variation 5,
and a romantic Rachmaninoff/Liszt inspired variation 6. Despite the
stylistic variety, the whole work is clearly written by a very individual
voice and deserves much wider recognition.

5. Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) arr. J. Scott
Overture to The Italian Girl in Algiers
Written in 1813, Rossinis Comic Opera The Italian Girl in Algiers
(LItaliana in Algeri) tells the tale of Isabella who is searching
for her kidnapped lover Lindoro. She is shipwrecked and taken prisoner
in Algiers and discovers that Lindoro is also being held captive there.
A plan is hatched and they manage, through many comical escapades, to
escape. Rossinis Overture perfectly captures the lively action
of the opera, and the comedy is certainly highlighted from the very
start in this new version for piano and organ.

6. Tom
Scott (b.1981)
Timepiece (2013)
To bring organ and piano duos into the 21st Century, Timepiece was composed
by Tom in 2013 and premiered by Scott Brothers Duo at Victoria Hall,
Hanley on 21st September 2013. The work uses the idea of the phenomenon
which occurs when clock pendulums synchronise their rhythm, and in Timepiece
a number of chimes are heard, before eventually, everything synchronises
in the closing bars.

7. Clifford
Demarest (1874-1946)
Fantaisie
The American organist and composer Clifford Demarest was born and educated
in New Jersey, and from 1911 he was the organist at Church of the Messiah,
New York City. As a composer, Demarest is best known for his music for
the combination of organ and piano. Organ and piano duos are still an
important part of musical life in American Churches, since a great deal
of them have pianos and organs at floor level, which are used for concerts
and during worship.
Demarest's most popular work is the Fantaisie (or Fantasy) for piano
and organ written in 1917 for a concert celebrating his inauguration
as President of the American Guild of Organist's, a position he held
until 1922.
The Fantaisie is in a very clear A-B-A form, and the majestic opening
introduction states the theme on the organ accompanied by quasi-Tchaikovsky
piano concerto chords. This theme is developed in a brisk allegro, before
abruptly giving way to a lilting pastoral middle section. The opening
allegro returns, leading to a coda which brings the work to a grand
close.
8. Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) arr. Scott
Romance Op.36Camille
Saint-Saëns consistently wrote new music for solo instruments which
had been invented or improved in the nineteenth century. In 1874 he
wrote his Romance for French Horn and piano for the leading horn player
Henri Garigue. Saint-Saëns also wrote a version with orchestral
accompaniment and gave the option that the work could also be played
as a cello solo. The serene opening melody is the perfect vehicle
to demonstrate a soloists tone and musical line with a central turbulent
section which reaches a dramatic climax before returning to the calm
melody of the opening. The version presented on this recording is a
transcription for piano and organ by Jonathan, which allows both players
the opportunity to share the melody in one of Saint-Saëns
finest miniatures as well as showing the beautiful string and solo stops
of the Victoria Hall organ.

9. Pietro Yon (1886-1943)
Finale from 'Concerto Gregoriano'
Pietro Yon was born in Settima Vittone, Italy. He studied at the conservatories
of Milan and Turin before attending the prestigious Academia di Santa
Cecilia in Rome. Upon his graduation in 1905, Yon served as organist
for the Vatican and San Pietro Basilica. In 1907 he left Italy to settle
in New York, where he succeeded Gaston Dethier as organist of St. Francis
Xavier Church. He created a music school with his brother in Carnegie
Hall where his pupils included Cole Porter. In 1926 when he accepted
the coveted post of organist at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York where
he served up to his death. Yon's Concerto Gregoriano was written for
the Grand Court organ of the Wanamaker store in Philadelphia (still
the largest operational pipe organ in the world) and was premiered on
24th March 1920 by the composer, accompanied by the Philadelphia Orchestra,
conducted by Leopold Stokowski to an audience of around 12,000. Our
recording features Yon's own virtuosic arrangement for piano and organ
of the finale from the Concerto. This exciting Toccata combines themes
from the three previous movements, as well as providing a dazzling cadenza
for pedals, which gave Yon the perfect opportunity to demonstrate his
legendary virtuoso pedal technique as well as showing the full power
of a large concert organ.

Recorded
at Victoria Hall, Hanley, Staffordshire, UK, on 28th October 2015

Thanks to:
Michael Rhodes, consultant organist at Victoria Hall, Hanley for his
tireless work and help;
Adrian Griffiths for his help with tuning of the organ;
Everyone who supports our performance and enjoys the music we play.